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Mayan culture

…coast, notable especially among the Pipil of El Salvador and the Chorotega and Nicarao of Nicaragua. In Panama and Costa Rica, South American Chibcha influence was prevalent, while Caribbean cultural patterns penetrated the coastal plain from Panama to Honduras. Fugitives from the European conquistadores in the Caribbean increased this influence…

Mesoamerican civilization

The Pipil (descendants of the Aztecs), the predominant tribe in the region prior to the Spanish conquest, named their territory and capital Cuscatlán, meaning “Land of the Jewel”; the name is still sometimes applied to El Salvador today. The mixing of the Pipil and other tribes…

…the more ancient, but the Pipil, whose civilization resembled that of the Aztecs in Mexico, were predominant. Archaeological ruins dating from Indian times are Tazumal, Pampe, El Trapito, and San Andrés. Of several large towns founded by the Indians, Sonsonate and Ahuachapán still exist. For more information on early history…

…linked with that of the Pipil, a shadowy people living in the same region on the eve of the Spanish conquest, who spoke Nahua rather than Maya. It is possible that these Classic sites were actually Pipil capitals, but the case cannot be proved. There is some hieroglyphic writing on…

Spanish conquest

…from a Nahua tribe, the Pipil, that occupied much of the region west of the Lempa River. However, superior tactics and armaments enabled the Spaniards to push on to the Pipil capital of Cuscatlán. Alvarado soon returned to Guatemala, but a second expedition, in 1525, founded a Spanish town called…